Fire, rain make for bizarre Daytona 500

The Daytona 500 is the opening race of the NASCAR season and the sport's most prestigious race. For the first time in its history, rain meant the race started one day later than planned on Monday.

The race was delayed further when Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into one of the jet dryers which was drying the track, causing the car and the truck towing it to burst into flames.

The flames spread across the track, forcing a near two-hour delay to proceedings.

But workers eventually managed to clear the track, meaning the race could resume.

This safety barrier shows the impact of the flames which engulfed a section of the track.

When the action on track resumed at the Daytona International Circuit, American Matt Kenseth took to the front of the field.

Kenseth stayed out in front to take the checkered flag at 1 a.m. local time, meaning the race had entered a third day for the first time.

Kenseth poses with the Harley J.Earl Trophy after winning the 54th Annual Daytona 500.

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Daytona 500

Fierce flames

Ring of fire

Clean-up crew

Leaving a mark

Out in front

Checkered flag

King Kenseth

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Daytona Beach, Florida (CNN) -- For a sport where speed is king, NASCAR's Daytona 500 this year was one long waiting game.

First, rain led race officials to pull the plug Sunday -- the first time in Daytona 500's history. Then, continuing showers led them to re-reschedule the start from noon to Monday evening.

When the race finally got underway, a massive fire with 40 laps to go red-flagged it for a couple more hours, pushing the race into a third day.

In the end, Matt Kenseth crossed the finish line about 1 a.m. Tuesday, claiming the 54th running of "The Great American Race."

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The Daytona 500 victory was the second for the driver, who edged out Dale Earnhardt Jr. and teammate Greg Biffle to take the checkered flag.

Those who made it to the end survived multiple accidents, including one on the second lap, and 10 caution flags.

Officials shut down the race for nearly two hours after Juan Pablo Montoya careened into the back of a jet dryer that was being used to blow debris off the track during a caution flag. Montoya's car, the jet dryer and the truck pulling it all burst into flames and also set a section of the track on fire.

Montoya said he had returned to the race track from pit row before the accident, after having the crew check out a vibration he was feeling in his car.

"I was in fourth gear. I wasn't even going that fast," Montoya told reporters. "It just felt really strange and ... the car just turned right."

Some 24 hours of intermittent rain forced Monday's prime-time start -- the first since the inaugural race in 1959.

Before this year, rain had cut short four of 53 previous races -- in 1965, 1966, 2003 and 2009 -- but none had been canceled for the day.

The Daytona 500 opens the NASCAR season, but it also is the sport's most prestigious race. Daytona International Speedway announced this month that the race will boast a record purse of more than $19 million. In comparison, last year's Indianapolis 500 had a payout of $13.5 million.

CNN's Tom Watkins and Dan Moriarty contributed to this report.